Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Country	Australia
National selection
Selection process	Internal selection
Selection date(s)	21 February 2023
Selected artist(s)	Voyager
Selected song	"Promise"
Selected songwriter(s)	Alex Canion Ashley Doodkorte Daniel Estrin Scott Kay Simone Dow
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (1st, 149 points)
Final result	9th, 151 points
Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2022 • 2023 • 2024►

Australia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Promise", written by Alex Canion, Ashley Doodkorte, Daniel Estrin, Scott Kay, and Simone Dow. The song is performed by Voyager. The Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) selected the Australian entry for the contest. The song and artist were officially revealed by SBS as the Australian entrant on 21 February 2023.

Australia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 by invitation from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as a "one-off" special guest to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Eurovision. On 17 November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited to participate in the 2016 contest and that Australia would once again take part. In 2015, Australia was guaranteed a spot in the final of the contest and was allowed to vote during both semi-finals and the final; however, from the 2016 contest and onwards, Australia would have to qualify to the final from one of two semi-finals and could only vote in the semi-final in which the nation was allocated to compete.

Australia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. In the semi-final, Australia qualified for the final on 13 May.

Background

Main article: Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest since 1983, and the contest has gained a cult following over that time, primarily due to the country's strong political and cultural ties with Europe. Paying tribute to this, the 2014 contest semi-finals included an interval act featuring Australian singer Jessica Mauboy. ^[1] Australian singers have also participated at Eurovision as representatives of other countries, including Olivia Newton-John (1974, United Kingdom), two-time winner Johnny Logan (1980 and 1987, Ireland), Gina G (1996, United Kingdom), and Jane Comerford as lead singer of Texas Lightning (2006, Germany). ^[2]

Tying in with the goal of Eurovision –to showcase "the importance of bringing countries together to celebrate diversity, music and culture", the 2015 theme of "Building Bridges", and arguing that they could not hold "the world's biggest party" to celebrate the 60th edition of Eurovision without inviting Australia, the EBU announced on 10 February 2015 that the country would compete at that year's edition as a special guest participant. Along with the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the host country of Austria, Australia was given automatic entry into the final to "not reduce the chances" of the semi-final participants. ^[3] On 17 November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited to participate in the 2016 contest and that Australia would once again take part, however they would have to qualify for the final from one of two semi-finals and could only vote in the semi-final in which the nation was competing. On 12 February 2019, SBS signed a contract securing Australia's spot at the contest until 2023. ^[4] In 2022, Australia was represented by Sheldon Riley and the song "Not the Same". The country ended in fifteenth place in the final with 125 points. On 20 October 2022, SBS confirmed Australia's participation in the 2023 contest. ^[5]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

SBS announced in November 2022 that the Australian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 would be selected internally, foregoing the use of the national final Eurovision – Australia Decides which had been held since 2019, stating: "Over the past few months, we have been exploring ways we could deliver the event to Australian audiences next year. However, a variety of factors contributed to us coming to this decision." ^[6] Australia's creative director, Paul Clarke, mentioned during an interview: "Eurovision – Australia Decides comes together as a result of different layers of funding. Some of those changed and we just fell a bit short. Unfortunately, we ran out of runway." ^[7]

On 21 February 2023, SBS revealed that the band Voyager was selected as the Australian entrant for the 2023 contest with their song "Promise". The band had finished runner-up in Eurovision – Australia Decides the year prior with the song "Dreamer". ^[8]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Australia has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. ^[9]

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Australia was set to perform last in position 16, following the entry from Lithuania. ^[10]

At the end of the show, Australia was announced as a qualifier for the final, winning the semi-final with 149 points in total.

All three shows were broadcast on SBS with commentary by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey. In addition to the three shows being broadcast live in Australia at 05:00 AEST, SBS also provided repeat broadcasts at prime time on 12, 13 and 14 May at 19:30 AEST (09:30 UTC). ^[11]

The prime time repeat of the first semi-final on 12 May reached a total of 191,000 viewers, while the repeat airing of the second semi-final on 13 May, which featured the participation of Australia, gained 236,000 viewers. ^{[12] [13]} The live broadcast of the grand final on the morning of 14 May Australia time gained an audience of 202,000 viewers, with the winner's announcement at approximately 09:00 AEST reaching 299,000 viewers. The prime time repeat of the final that evening reached a total of 181,000 viewers. ^{[14] [15]}

Voting

Points awarded to Australia

Points awarded to Australia (Semi-final)[ citation needed ] Score Televote 12 points   Albania   Estonia   Iceland 10 points   Denmark   Romania 8 points   Austria   Lithuania   Poland   United Kingdom 7 points   Cyprus   Georgia Rest of the World   Spain   Ukraine 6 points   Belgium   San Marino   Slovenia 5 points 4 points   Armenia   Greece 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded to Australia (Final)[ citation needed ] Score Televote Jury 12 points   Portugal   Iceland 10 points   United Kingdom 8 points   Finland   Ukraine   Germany   Estonia   Cyprus 7 points   Czech Republic 6 points   Estonia 5 points   Moldova   San Marino   Azerbaijan   Norway   Greece 4 points   Ireland   Belgium   Poland   Slovenia   Lithuania 3 points   Iceland   Romania   Albania 2 points   United Kingdom    Switzerland   Denmark   Georgia 1 point   Netherlands   Sweden

Points awarded by Australia

Points awarded by Australia (Semi-final)[ citation needed ] Score Televote 12 points   Austria 10 points   Cyprus 8 points   Slovenia 7 points   Belgium 6 points   Lithuania 5 points   Iceland 4 points   Estonia 3 points   Albania 2 points   Armenia 1 point   Georgia

Points awarded by Australia (Final)[ citation needed ] Score Televote Jury 12 points   Finland   Belgium 10 points   Sweden   Lithuania 8 points   Cyprus   Estonia 7 points   Austria   Sweden 6 points   Norway   Austria 5 points   Israel   Finland 4 points   Croatia   Spain 3 points   Belgium   Cyprus 2 points   France   Portugal 1 point   Slovenia   Italy

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Australian jury:

• Andrew Farriss
• Eddie Perfect
• Latifa Shabaz Tasipale (Latifa Tee)
• Toni Pearen
• Brihony Dawson

Detailed voting results from Australia (Semi-final 2)^{[ citation needed ]}

Draw	Country	Televote
		Rank	Points
01	Denmark	12
02	Armenia	9	2
03	Romania	15
04	Estonia	7	4
05	Belgium	4	7
06	Cyprus	2	10
07	Iceland	6	5
08	Greece	13
09	Poland	11
10	Slovenia	3	8
11	Georgia	10	1
12	San Marino	14
13	Austria	1	12
14	Albania	8	3
15	Lithuania	5	6
16	Australia

Detailed voting results from Australia (Final)^{[ citation needed ]}

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		Juror 1	Juror 2	Juror 3	Juror 4	Juror 5	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Austria	7	3	4	7	6	5	6	4	7
02	Portugal	16	18	7	4	13	9	2	19
03	Switzerland	20	16	18	12	19	21		22
04	Poland	17	14	16	11	12	17		24
05	Serbia	24	25	23	17	23	25		18
06	France	10	19	22	5	17	12		9	2
07	Cyprus	19	9	11	6	4	8	3	3	8
08	Spain	4	24	5	16	7	7	4	21
09	Sweden	11	4	3	15	1	4	7	2	10
10	Albania	15	10	13	13	18	16		25
11	Italy	6	11	15	9	20	10	1	13
12	Estonia	2	13	2	1	8	3	8	20
13	Finland	5	5	6	8	10	6	5	1	12
14	Czech Republic	13	20	17	19	22	23		12
15	Australia
16	Belgium	1	1	1	3	2	1	12	8	3
17	Armenia	14	17	10	22	15	20		23
18	Moldova	25	15	21	18	25	24		17
19	Ukraine	18	22	20	21	5	15		16
20	Norway	23	23	12	20	14	22		5	6
21	Germany	12	8	25	23	24	18		11
22	Lithuania	3	2	8	2	3	2	10	15
23	Israel	21	7	9	25	9	11		6	5
24	Slovenia	22	6	14	24	11	13		10	1
25	Croatia	9	12	24	10	16	14		7	4
26	United Kingdom	8	21	19	14	21	19		14

References

1. Vincent, Peter (2014-05-08). "Jessica Mauboy performs at Eurovision Song Contest". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
2. "Eurovision Song Contest invites Australia to join 'world's biggest party'". the Guardian. 2015-02-10. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
3. "Australia to compete in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. 2015-02-10. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
4. "Australia secures spot in Eurovision for the next five years". Eurovision.tv. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
5. Jiandani, Sanjay (2022-10-20). "Australia: SBS confirms participation at Eurovision 2023". ESCToday. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
6. Webster, Liv (2022-11-14). "Australia opts for internal selection for Eurovision 2023". Aussievision. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
7. "Voyager shows a different side to Australian music!". TVTonight. 2023-05-12. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
8. "Voyager will journey to Liverpool for Australia". eurovision.tv. 2023-02-21. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
9. Groot, Evert (2023-01-31). "Eurovision 2023: Allocation Draw results". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 2022-01-31.
10. "Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Semi-Final running orders revealed!". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
11. "Join us on a voyage to the greatest show on earth, as SBS celebrates 40 years of Eurovision broadcasts". SBS. 19 April 2023. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
12. "Friday 12 May 2023". TV Tonight. 13 May 2023. Archived from the original on 13 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
13. "Saturday 13 May 2023". TV Tonight. 14 May 2023. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
14. "Sunday 14 May 2023". TV Tonight. 16 May 2023. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
15. Molk, Steve (15 May 2023). "Sunday Ratings | Finale part 1 of FARMER WANTS A WIFE humbles the premiere of THE SUMMIT AUSTRALIA". TV Blackbox. Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.

External links

• Official SBS Eurovision site